Tuesday, 20thth February, 2018 (Nairobi, Kenya)… Newly appointed Hon. John Munyes on Tuesday took over office from outgoing Cabinet Secretary at the Ministry of Mining Hon. Dan Kazungu, EGH, who was appointed Ambassador to the United Republic of Tanzania. Newly appointed Hon. John Munyes will now represent the government as Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Petroleum and Mining after President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that the State Department of Petroleum would be merged with the Ministry of Mining.

Speaking during the handover, outgoing CS Hon Dan Kazungu said the ground had been laid and it was now time for take off for the young Ministry. ”Mining cannot be successful in the country if we do not pay attention to community issues so we have less and less issues of conflicts and lawsuits especially”, he said.

While giving his maiden speech as Cabinet Secretary at the Ministry’s headquarters where a press briefing was held, Hon John Munyes (who is also former Turkana County Senator) promised to continue with the reform agenda and added he would ensure the Mining Policy, Mining Act of 2016 and Regulations currently in place, are part of his key agenda.

He also emphasized the need to sensitize communities on Mining to create awareness on the Extractives sector in the country. “We need to get out as a Ministry to sensitize the public and tell them the benefits that accrue from this sector”.

Part of Hon. John Munyes’ plan is to create jobs and wealth by maximizing on the Artisans and Small-Scale Miners that have the potential for economic growth. “We hope to attract large scale investors to exploit our mineral, small-scale investors and my baby which is going to be the Artisans. We want to create cooperatives and engage the county governments to ensure people can create jobs and wealth”, added CS Munyes.

Hon. John Munyes will also be engaging Members of Parliament and Senators in growing the petroleum and mining sectors who’s success largely depends on his increased investment, stakeholder and community engagements as well as further discovery of minerals, oil and gas. CS John Munyes took oath of office on 16th February 2018 at Statehouse, Nairobi alongside his other Cabinet Secretaries serving respective Ministries of the Republic of Kenya.